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The State Development Planning Commission issued the Provisional Regulations on Administration of Foreign Investment in the Rare Earth Industry on August 1 2002. According to this regulation, foreign-invested rare earth projects are divided into three main categories, that is, rare earth mining, rare earth smelting and separation, and rare earth deep processing and application.

Europe has set an ambitious timetable to combat Market Abuse. IFLR invited five financial specialists to discuss EU plans so far

Jay Lawrence Westbrook of the University of Texas School of Law considers the merits of three initiatives to deal with international workouts

The Securities Settlement System Reform Law will come into effect in Japan in early January 2003. The object of the law is to provide a uniform, safe and efficient book-entry settlement system for certain corporate, government, municipal and foreign bonds, commercial paper and beneficial interests. Shares, warrants and convertible bonds are outside the scope of the new system. A unified settlement system for all securities remains a goal for the future.

After the completion of the negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), the Mexican authorities started to negotiate international treaties around the world to avoid double taxation, as well as treaties for the exchange of tax information. Under the constitutional principles, these treaties when ratified and approved by the Mexican senate will become the highest laws of the land, together with the Mexican Constitution.

Linklaters has advised a consortium of private equity houses on Europe's most expensive leveraged buyout. The €4.9 billion ($4.78 billion) acquisition of Legrand is the biggest private equity buyout for a decade, will be the largest mezzanine financing in Europe and the biggest high-yield financing in France.

John D Moore of Goldman Sachs looks at what the new law means for companies

Share repurchasing has been employed as an instrument of financial policy by German stock corporations since a reform of the German Stock Corporation Act in 1998. It essentially requires the shareholders' meeting to authorize the management board to repurchase shares up to a total volume of 10% of the share capital for a period of 18 months. Furthermore, the shareholders' meeting fixes the highest and lowest price for the shares to be acquired but it is at liberty not to specify the purpose of the share repurchase. The share repurchase can serve various objectives: procurement of shares as acquisition currency, distribution of excess liquidity with unchanged dividend level, increase of income per individual share and, not least, giving positive signals to the capital markets.

A new EU regulation has been introduced with the stated objectives of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of insolvency proceedings with a cross-border element and avoiding the incentive for parties to transfer assets or proceedings within the EU in an attempt to forum-shop. The new regulation, Council Regulation (EC) No 1346/2000 on Insolvency Proceedings Within the EU (except Denmark), came into force on May 31 2002.

Singapore's financial market regulator is to increase disclosure levels for retail hedge funds, calling for clearer prospectuses explaining their risks and objectives. The Monetary Authority of Singapore is consulting on the regulations, which will make companies offering hedge funds to retail investors disclose in clear language the differences between hedge funds and traditional funds, the risks and the objectives of the investment.